NCAA sues Pa. over $60M Jerry Sandusky fine

Feb. 20, 2013
|

The NCAA on Wednesday sued Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and other state officials over a new law that requires that all of the $60 million fine levied against Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky child-rape scandal be spent in the Keystone State. / Ralph Wilson, AP

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

The NCAA on Wednesday sued Pennsylvania hours after Gov. Tom Corbett signed a law mandating that all of Penn State's $60 million fine for the Jerry Sandusky child-rape scandal be spent in the state.

The NCAA claims the law is unconstitutional, arguing that Pennsylvania officials cannot dictate or limit how and where the college athletics governing body spends the money. An NCAA task force has been drafting guidelines for how to spend the fine, which the sports authority levied last summer in a consent decree with the university.

The NCAA has said it wants to fund child-abuse-prevention programs nationally, and the lawsuit accuses the state of confiscating the fine - the result of an agreement between what it called private parties - for the exclusive benefit of Pennsylvania residents.

Besides Corbett, defendants include state Treasurer Rob McCord, auditor general Eugene DePasquale and the chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Mark Zimmer.

Last month, Corbett filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA in a bid to get the fines and other Sandusky-related penalties dismissed, including a four-season ban on bowl games and the loss of 20 football scholarships. The governor called the sanctions "an attack on past, present and future students of Penn State, the citizens of our commonwealth and our economy."

The NCAA called Corbett's suit "an affront" to Sandusky's victims. The former assistant football coach is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence for sexual abuse of 10 boys. Last month, a judge denied his bid for a new trial.